What Are Your Favorite Hidden Gem Android Apps with Less Than 1 Million Downloads and 4+ Star Ratings?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

I’m on a quest to discover some of the lesser-known, yet highly-rated Android apps that have managed to stay under the radar. I’m particularly interested in those with less than 1 million downloads and a rating of 4 stars or more.

I’m sure there are countless apps out there that are incredibly cool, interesting, or useful, but just haven’t hit the mainstream yet. Maybe it’s a productivity tool that’s boosted your efficiency, a unique game that’s kept you entertained for hours, or a niche app that’s catered perfectly to one of your hobbies or interests.

So, my question is: What are some Android hidden gem apps with less than 1 million downloads, more than 4 stars, that you’ve used a bunch or think it’s really cool/interesting/useful?

Please share your recommendations, and if possible, a brief description of what the app does and why you find it so valuable.

Looking forward to uncovering some hidden treasures in the Android app world. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

As a final note, I will be copying all the responses to c/polls to create an easy-to-view list of all the recommended apps. This way, we can all benefit from the collective wisdom of this community.

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netchami@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
LibreTube or NewPipe for watching YouTube videos without ads or tracking.

Seal for downloading YouTube videos.

Retro Music Player - probably the best looking music app for Android.

Pano Scrobbler - a FOSS app for Last.fm, Libre.fm and Listenbrainz. (I recommend Obtanium to download it from GitHub.)

Droid-ify is a much nicer client for F-Droid.

Obtanium for downloading apps from various other sources.

Aurora Store for anonymously downloading apps from the Play Store without a Google account

Molly - a better Signal client. (You can use Obtanium to download it from GitHub, you can add their F-Droid repo or download it using Accressent, a new experimental app store that seeks to replace F-Droid.)

Gallery - a simple gallery app that looks good and respects your Material You theme.

Murglar for downloading Music in full quality from Deezer.

Element X is a much better Matrix client than the standard Element app. (I recommend downloading it from GitHub using Obtanium)

LinkSheet - a small app that restores the old Android URL link chooser. It has many great features like the ability to remove tracking parameters from URLs or using FastForward to annoying bypass URL shorteners.

UntrackMe - a tool that can redirect YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. links to privacy-friendly alternative frontends like Invidious or Piped for YouTube, Nitter for Twitter and LibReddit or Teddit for Reddit

Thunder, the best Lemmy client I ever used.

Most of the apps I mentioned are free and open source and many of them are available on F-Droid. They don’t collect or sell any of your data.

The last one is not an app, but an entire OS that can replace the spyware-infested ROM that’s preinstalled by your phones’ manufacturer. I’m talking about GrapheneOS. No ads, no tracking, no proprietary Google services. Just free and open source software with maximum privacy and security. It’s so great!

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- s38b35M5@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Excellent list
  
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  - netchami@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I’m glad you like it
    
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- jvrava9@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Some alternatives and corrections to your list:
  
  You can already download YT videos in LibreTube and NewPipe, speaking about NewPipe, I would suggest using NewPipeSponsosblock for blocking in video sponsors from creators. Aves Libre is a better advanced Gallery alternative with EXIF editing.
  
  Aimp is a good alternative to Retro.
  
  Spotiflyer is an alternative Murglar.
  
  Schildi Chat is a better alternative to Element X, its based on Element but is a lot faster and has a lot more options.
  
  Ps: I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and comments by you in the communities that I follow, just want to tell you thx for contrubuting to them xD.
  
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  - netchami@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Thanks for participating in the discussion. I have to disagree on some of your point though.
    
    You can already download YT videos in LibreTube and NewPipe, speaking about NewPipe, I would suggest using NewPipeSponsosblock for blocking in video sponsors from creators.
    
    I have found the download features in both LibreTube and NewPipe to be pretty unreliable. Seal always works. NewPipe x SponsorBlock is great, I use LibreTube which also has SponsorBlock built in, I just included NewPipe in the list because LibreTube breaks sometimes. But yes, NewPipe x SponsorBlock is better than standard NewPipe. BraveNewPipe is even better.
    
    Aves Libre is a better advanced Gallery alternative with EXIF editing
    
    Aves is a good option, it’s also available on Accrescent. Personally though, I dislike the design of the app and prefer Gallery in combination with Image Toolbox for image editing.
    
    Aimp is a good alternative to Retro.
    
    It’s not open-source and thus not available on F-Droid.
    
    Spotiflyer is an alternative Murglar.
    
    In my experience Spotiflyer has been pretty unreliable. It either pulls low quality shit from YouTube or it tries to download from Spotify and fails. So far, Murglar has worked like a dream. Just like deemix on desktop btw. You can use Deezer Premium ARLs from this guide to log in and download genuine 320kbps MP3s or even FLACs. Never had any issues.
    
    Schildi Chat is a better alternative to Element X, its based on Element but is a lot faster and has a lot more options.
    
    I tried it out, personally, I didn’t really like it. Element has been pretty slow for me, but I never had these issues with Element X.
    
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- Curious_Canid@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Great list overall. Obtainium looks like it could be life-changing. :-)
  
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  - netchami@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I try to get most of my apps from F-Droid (through Droid-ify) or Accrescent, but if they are not available, I turn to Obtanium to either download an APK from a website or from GitHub. It also has the ability to update your apps from your custom sources.
    
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- LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Hi, have you switched to using Accressent? Do you like it more than Droid-ify?
  
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  - netchami@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It’s in a very early stage of development, it currently only offers 11 apps. I really hope it succeeds though, it has better security than F-Droid so I would love to switch to it once it supports more apps.
    
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Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Physics Toolbox Suite.

Most phones today contain a powerful array of sensors, and almost all of them are locked from easy access by the user. Physics Toolbox has functions that allow you to get the raw data from almost every sensor in your phone. It’s the only “tool” app that I can honestly say I’ve used as a tool. It has a sound intensity functions which I have used to determine if hearing protections is needed, and I’ve used that feature to diag a bad mic pickup due to an ambient white noise machine. It can give you the signal loss for a WiFi connection, very handy for troubleshooitng wireless access points.

Other features, magnetic field detection, tone generator, color matcher, g-force and rotation output, raw GPS view and more. All of these are available on the free version, but I actually use this app so much that I spent the 2 or 5 bucks to the dev mainly just to support them. The laid version also lets you export the sensor logs to a .csv file so you can view that data on a computer.

It really turns your phone from a glorified Lemmy portal into the cool future tool it was meant to be.

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- rescue_toaster@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Phyphox is similar, not sure if it has all the same capabilities though.
  
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- Jaytreeman@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This is a super cool thing. Thanks for sharing
  
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slazer2au@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.…

Several puzzles in one app, no ads, completely free.

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- Hobart_the_GoKart@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Wow thanks! I play these on desktop all the time. I tried playing them from my phone browser and it wasn’t the same. Didn’t know there was an app! Thank you!
  
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LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
www.f-droid.org/…/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/

StreetComplete! You can contribute to OpenStreetMap while walking around and having fun. It’s super fun and satisfying to unlock achievements while contributing to a useful project.

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SendMePhotos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Games:

Survivor.io - even though the name screams cheap shitty ad app, it’s pretty limited in ads (if any) and the game is a rogue like zombie killer. Each game plays out for about up to 15 minutes. One of my favorites.

Rebuild - a turn based strategy game about surviving the cities full of zombies.

Pawnbarian - a chess rogue like where you control a piece that has unique abilities. I believe they let you play part of the game as a demo.

Can’t remember the name but there is a game you can get where you text some random dude who is lost in space. The game progresses over a few weeks and unfolds but you can only message him after he contacts you through notification. If I find it, I’ll edit it in here.

Apps: Nova Launcher - I have used nova launcher for probably like 10 years. I love the customizable options given and the ability to set gestures on icons.

Doctor on Demand - OK HEAR ME OUT. First, I live in America. Medical care is stupid. Also, I have children. Going to the doctors is like upwards of a hundred dollars per visit (if not more). Doctor on demand (through my insurance) is free. Even if you don’t have insurance, I think it’s only lope $50-$75 per visit. So… I recommend this for American users who need to see a doctor but may not be covered effectively.

Offline Survival Manual - haven’t needed to use it but good to have I’m thinking. You can print it all out through the app.

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- Nemo@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Rebuild has been great since it was a browser game. Solid recc.
  
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Poringo@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
NeverTooManyBooks.

I have several books cases and shelves where I store books, this has helped me a lot to have a catalogue of them.

I just scan the book code, the app gets book info, and I assign it to a place where it is physically stored, like, bookcase 1 in office room, shelf 3 on main room, etc.

I have it installed from Droid-ify which is like an app to have more sources for f-Droid.

apt.izzysoft.de/…/com.hardbacknutter.nevertoomany…

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- Hobart_the_GoKart@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This is incredible. I’ve been looking for something exactly like this. Thank you!!
  
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- Poringo@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Also I want to recommend Birday, it is a very simple birthday manager, and you can import birthdays from your calendars.
  
  I intend to use this to remember birthdays and actually call people on their phones.
  
  play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.minar.b…
  
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- sanguinepar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Ooh, saving this for later. I’m gradually reclaiming all our books from storage and this sounds very handy. Thanks for the tip!
  
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DashboTreeFrog@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Simple Text Editor

FOSS text editor for when you just literally wanna write something down without any weird bloat and without having to deal with Google. Available on F-Droid.

Also, OpenBoard for a FOSS keyboard with swipe typing. Also available on F-Droid

You know what, I think F-Droid is actually my hidden gem app. I’m sure most Lemmy users use it, but I don’t think I know anyone else IRL who does, so hidden gem might not be accurate depending on perspective.

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- sock@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  r ur notes available on every device u log into?
  
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- Mang@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Do you need to root phone to use F-Droid?
  
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  - rustyriffs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Nope
    
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I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Gravity Screen.

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor…

Screen turns off when you put your phone into your pocket. No more pocket dials etc.

Might not work on newest devices.

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- Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I did this with automate, it checks the proximity sensor, then it checks device orientation against set values (so it knows its upside down)
  
  It’s just fun for me to make this logic myself in automate, no real reason to do it this way unless you just WANT to.
  
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  - I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Nice.
    
    Yes, automate is good.
    
    My Realme phone will probably kill such an app though. It kills tasker even when told not to.
    
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- rustyriffs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I remember that one! I used it for quite a while on one of my old devices
  
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  - I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Did you replace it with something? Or maybe newer devices are a bit smarter and it’s not necessary.
    
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- vox@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  yeah this app is not compatible with this device
  
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kurcatovium@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
KISS launcher, I can’t imagine using a phone without it.

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rustyriffs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
-Organic maps Beautifully designed open source navigation alternative. It’s not perfect, because I still have to do some auxiliary searching occasionally, but I’m really enjoying using it instead of Google

-Quickweather Another beautifully designed app. Not perfect, but just really nice to look at because of how well it was done. I still use myradar as my main driver, admittedly.

-ViMusic Again, one of the most beautifully designed apps I’ve ever seen. It has a few bugs, but I really enjoy using this one. It uses YouTube music as the back end.

-Newpipe and freetube Either of these work pretty good as a better way to watch YouTube videos. I’m glad people are fighting back against Google’s bullshit…

-Eternity This is currently my favorite Lemmy front end. I’ve tried many so far and this one seems to have the best functionality and customization too.

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dong@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
This calculator app maybe I use it for nostalgia’s sake but I’ve had it on every android for the past 10+ years. It works great, launches instantly, and the ads were never more than a small banner at the top. I did buy the ad free version but it’s $2, no subscription or any bullshit, just a straight and honest scientific calculator.

Maybe not underrated because everyone should already be using it but KDE connect is a life changing app. So much functionality packed into a lightweight package. Just having a shared clipboard between my phone and laptop has been such a time saver every single day. If you don’t already have it, you should.

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riverboat_capsize@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I want to mention app for browsing Lemmyverse. The only reason why nobody know about it, is because it’s not on Play Store nor F-Droid, only GitHub. It’s really nice, 100% Kotlin. Next release will have mod tools. You can check it out here.

And of course SomaFM, app for music lovers, check it out here, pure awesomeness.

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Fleppensteijn@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Essentials: DiskUsage, Total Commander

Music Folder Player - just a good music player that plays files in a folder instead of scraping all studio files from wherever as many players seem to do nowadays

Syncthing - to sync files with other devices

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rescue_toaster@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Fit Notes - simple lifting progress app that i’ve been using for years. On play store.

Kvaesitso - launcher on fdroid. Has become my favorite launcher.

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B4tid0@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Is newpipe a hidden gem? It was to me until 6 months ago.

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- burgersc12@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This version with sponsorblock is definitely a hidden gem!
  
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instantapps@lemdro.id ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
App for learning to draw - AR Drawing: Sketch Paint Beautiful design, free, no ads…

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Thavron@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Atomas is a lovely little game about atoms.

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0x30507DE@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
ArityCalc is really neat, does graphing and a few other things

JRPN 16C is a take on the HP 16C , it’s both fun to mess around with and a great help when working with raw memory

μMath+ is great for working with complex problems

I use a NewPipe fork called PipePipe that is a bit more stable from my experience

Aurora Store is great

Markor is my go-to notes app, lets you write notes in markdown among other things

Trail Sense is neat both for its intended purpose as a general hiking toolkit, but also as a way to check phone sensors

Total Commander, because of course

Organic Maps is an offline maps app based on OpenStreetMap data, it’s great

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aido@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Niagara is by far my favorite launcher these days

I use it with Frequaw as the only widget to launch the apps I use the most

I rue the day Identiconizer falls behind on API versions and I won’t be able to install it on new phones anymore. Having identicons for contacts I don’t have photos for is just so much nicer than the plain letters.

Living Worlds has gorgeous low-power animated wallpapers

AlmostTI stops me from needing to learn how to use a new calculator than the TI-84

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- SaintWacko@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I keep hearing good things about Niagara, but it seems like such a shift from what I’m used to
  
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- astanix@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Frequaw looks great! I’m going to give it a try.
  
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shallowAF@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
X-plore file manager. I’ve been using it since UIQ days.

If you are not streaming music, but play your local library - PowerAmp.

Accubattery

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burgersc12@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Some music apps i like:

Seeker - for downloads

Vimusic, spotube, innertune or spotube - for streaming

I’ve mostly been using Spotube, its awesome!

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kzhe@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
WallMan at the moment

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otter@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Consider crossposting to !askandroid@lemdro.id

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andthenthreemore@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
URLCheck

Checks URLs for nasties like tracking links. Can also be used to open links in specific apps (where they don’t always want to)

Available on both f-droid and the play store.

www.f-droid.org/…/com.trianguloy.urlchecker/

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.triangu…

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Slayan@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Underhand

Free game, no ads, no internet, no info access, no update.

Small minus, you have to download it from play store.

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- GingeyBook@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Small caveat, not available on latest version of Android
  
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NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
“Birdnet” for recognizing the little birds’ voices.

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.tu_chemn…

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yamanii@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
-Andor’s Trail a free game on f-droid, a roguelike with a plot and very pretty

-Currency an open source app to quickly see exchange rates between different currencies, lightning fast

-Invizible Pro TOR access that I use on public wifi for protection

-Gadgetbridge Lightweight and good app for use with smartwatches/bands

-Lolisnatcher Great booruapp that supports everything I threw at it.

-Newpipe Sponsorblock A fork of the popular youtube alternative that supports the sponsorblock extension since the original devs are against it.

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user224@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
SDR++ github.com/AlexandreRouma/SDRPlusPlus
Though you’ll need additional hardware.

The best general-use SDR program available on Android. The other apps are just very limited mobile apps, but this gives a full desktop experience. It does support less devices than on desktop, but that’s fine. You can run it as server on desktop, and connect to the SDR++ server on your phone.
Here’s a screenshot:
Image
In the screenshot, it’s connected to SDR++ server running on my laptop, to which I have connected RSP1. I couldn’t use the RSP1 with SDR++ on Android directly, as it requires proprietary API. But I could for example use RTL-SDR, the most popular SDR. Or maybe Airspy, Airspy HF+, HackRF or Hermes. It can also connect (network) to PlutoSDR, RFspace, RTL-TCP, SDR++ and SpyServer.

But there’s more awesome SDR programs available for Android:

SatDump for satellite data processing

SDRAngel which tries to do as much as possible in single program (there’s no scaling settings, so prepare a stylus or mouse)

Welle.io for receiving DAB/DAB+ radio

RTL-SDR driver allows you to run RTL-TCP server on the phone. It’s also used as a driver by many other apps.
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glennglog22@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Sadly it's not on the playstore anymore, but I've had a free Tetris clone app on my phone for years that has served as a good time killer or a distraction from awkward silence. It's called Tetra Classic. I think you can still find the APK somewhere, hopefully in reputable sources.

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- mrjfilippo@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Falling Lightblocks, available on his own website or GitHub.
  
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